Questions about possible Marbrisa purchase

[partpro26]

Hi. I hope that this hasn't been answered previously. I attempted a search but was unsuccessful. We recently stayed at Marbrisa and was told that HGVC has now acquired complete ownership of the property from Grand Pacific. All existing owners or anyone that purchased prior to 01/01/2020 (wink, wink) would still be eligible for GPX as well as Hilton. After the new year all new purchases would be HGVC exclusively. We know enough not to believe a salesperson and we were not tempted with the bait that they offered, however we are interested in this concept. GPX seems to have properties in a lot more areas than HGVC and we think that it would compliment our current ownership. It sounded like a good idea to have the extra options and not be restricted to Las Vegas, Orlando, California or South Carolina. We have been feeling a bit tied down with the current locations, even though we love HGVC; you can only go to Orlando or Myrtle Beach so many times. Can anyone comment on the HGVC/GPX affiliation? Does it need to be a fixed or floating week? I am hoping that by purchasing resale I would get 'grandfathered' in but I can't seem to confirm that. I have called a resale agent recommended here on TUG and also HGVC member services. Haven't had any luck getting answers. Any help the HGVC/TUG gurus can offer is greatly appreciated.

 

[SteelerGal]

Yes, MarBrisa is HGVC only. HGVC has affiliate relationship as well, bHC locations, and are continuing to build. You can also trade using RCI.
I believe one of the stickies list the entire list of locations.

 

[nuwermj]

GPX is, I believe, an exchange program. And I don't think HGVC controls where you can deposit your week. Others should correct me if I'm wrong. MarBrisa is still showing as one of the resorts in GPX. I'd say call GPX with your questions.

 

[SteelerGal]

id if is part of the HGVC Club, you will need to use RCI. There are units who were managed by GPX and also had HGVC access.

 

[RX8]

With my Grand Pacific Palisades I have the free membership with GPX that is for exchanges but also allows one to purchase bonus weeks for a price less than MF.

 

[presley]

The resale "rules" change often regarding the other Carlsbad properties, but Marbrisa has always been consistent. If you buy a resale HGVC Marbrisa, it has both GPX and HGVC. If you buy an older Marbrisa contract, you may end up with GPX only.

I understand what you are saying about HGVC having limited places to stay, but then why don't you just use RCI or any of the smaller independent exchange companies? You can buy Marbrisa to use GPX, but there's no guarantee that you'll get a week that you want. There are still large deposits of all of the GPX locations in RCI.

If you are buying Marbrisa because you want to own there, you can buy resale and have the GPX access. It doesn't matter if you have a fixed or floating week, but if it's a float, you need to make your home week reservation before depositing into GPX. That sounds really expensive to me. I'd just use RCI if it were me.

 

[partpro26]

Hi. Thank you for all of the responses. I did look at the stickies but they didn't appear to be current. It is my understanding to the changes with respect to the Marbrisa affiliation is a quite recent thing. Ultimately I was hoping to get the best of both worlds - - add more points to my HGVC plus get access to more geographical locations with GPX. The other thing that REALLY intrigues me is the additional benefit of the rental/bonus weeks. I haven't had much success with RCI so far - have only used it a couple of times but the properties were not as nice as HGVC and I have read that it takes a long time with ongoing search to get some of the premium locations. Forgive me I am still relatively new at this time share concept and have pretty much just stayed in the HGVC system. Last minute with RCI or Open season with HGVC doesn't seem to work for me, I am restricted to school breaks which I get are super busy times. I am usually always borrowing to book a vacation in the current year (only have 7000 points) which I understand is preferable position instead of having to pay to save them.

 

[presley]

As far as I can remember, Marbrisa salespeople have said that something was changing and only retail purchasers could get GPX. Is that really happening now? Who knows. I just know things have been said like that for about 8 years, but it never came to pass. If you want more HGVC and you want access to GPR, Marbrisa is a good purchase. I just don't understand how resales would be blocked. You will still have the same issues with GPX for the weeks that you need. There are lots of choices during school season. You have to log in every day and look to see if there's a deposit for a week during your school breaks. Those will go immediately because everyone wants those.

The other thing that REALLY intrigues me is the additional benefit of the rental/bonus weeks.

Those are very nice for people who can travel during off season. I don't think I ever saw any rental weeks during high season, but I didn't check daily because I didn't need to travel in those times.

I haven't had much success with RCI so far - have only used it a couple of times but the properties were not as nice as HGVC and I have read that it takes a long time with ongoing search to get some of the premium locations.

It can be up a year out to get what you want, but it's worth it if you want a premium resort during a premium week. It's going to be very difficult for you to get anything at a high caliber timeshare during high travel weeks without putting in an ongoing request. I owned several Hiltons and several GPRs. My "decent" exchanges were put in far in advance and I had to list only the timeshares that I was willing to stay at. Never put an area like San Diego. Only ask for exact resorts that you want or you'll for sure get a trade down from Hilton. Hilton and DVC are pretty much the cream of the crop in RCI.

Really think about when you can travel and what type of places you like to stay. I found I was better off getting Hilton Honors Diamond by getting the American Express and staying in the hotels because I wanted a certain level of service, I wanted to book it whenever I felt like it and didn't want to plan a year out and I wanted to be able to cancel without any penalties. If you want a kitchen, you can still get that with Homewood Suites and Hampton Inn and Suites, plus you'll get the hot breakfast for free every day.

Have you considered just renting from another owner? That's probably cheaper in the long run. I still like hotels better because I've had to cancel too many plans, but if you normally don't need to cancel, you can rent any timeshare from owners.

 

[jnsrusty]

I own at MarBrisa and have a free GPX account that came with the purchase of my MarBrisa timeshare. I chose to convert my timeshare to HGVC when I first purchased it, but I can still choose to deposit my week in GPX if I want. I would never do that because, personally, I feel the HGVC points I get in exchange for my week are worth more than the week I would get at a GPX resort. I do, however, take advantage of booking bonus weeks through GPX. You can't really depend on finding a high quality timeshare at a prime time with GPX, but if you are diligent in looking, you can still manage to find some great rental places on GPX, especially in the off-seasons. They also run sales on their bonus weeks fairly regularly. Last year I booked a 1 bedroom in Scottsdale during Spring Break for $200 for the entire week. I felt like that was a great deal!